A night of firsts
by akarillo
Summary: Hal,Tom and Alex spend a night of firsts,with unexpected results. Thanks in advance for your reviews and comments!
1. In the caff

"Excellent, don't you agree?, the deep cleaning of the cafe is almost complete"

As Hal looks proudly about himself, he massages his writs, "the chairs and tables have been inspected and cleaned, the walls have been wiped, the back room has had, to be quite honest, a well overdue disinfecting wash...everywhere and all the cupboards are now finally cleaned and organised. Ah and the toilets..." Hal sighs " without a doubt that was extremely tough, nevertheless..."

"Hal, it is alrite, you don't 'ave to clean the whole world..."

Tom looks from the counter. "I'm transformin' tonite an'all I smell is bleach.. is giving me a 'eadache. You're not worried are ya? 'bout tonite?"

"Not worried, these last two weeks I have stuck to my routine and I feel in control." He beams at Tom.

"Yeah but this is the first nite I am not sleepin' in the house since, well,er.. since you fell off the wagon.."

"I know, I know,,..humm. Now," he points to the back of the kitchen and smiles gleefully, " how about cleaning those bins inside out?"

"Suit yourself. I know what you're doin'!"

"And what is that?" asks Hal tersely, walking towards the kitchen, fixing his apron and latex gloves, " You are, well, yor like... trying to get all tired an' that so" Tom carries on, stammering, waving his hands, pointing around,"... like doing all this...so you can't, you won't be able to.. to move, to.. summat. to..tonite,you, er..will be less.., I, I know, I've dun it meself and.. the thing is..do can't hide foreva... an'maybe..changing err .summat ." Tom glances at Hal clenching and unclenching his fists, still in the middle of the cafe.

He seems to be really beaten."Ah!"He mutters something,his eyes closed

"Wha'?"

"I said" Hal says a bit louder fixing his eyes on Tom" the ligatures are not as tight as they used to be"

"So?" Tom shrugs his shoulders and ignores Hal's glaring stare.

"so..." Hal waits,his eyes still fixed on Tom, his fingers tapping the red marks on his left wrist.

Tom pointedly ignores Hal's question and eyes, and clears his throat.

Irked, Hal starts to the kitchen once again, "Hal?" Tom finally looks up, his mind seemingly made up, Hal sighs annoyed, "I..." he stands up squaring his shoulders, clears his throat again " I know you are worried, like meself. But I put it to ya if.." he checks a card hidden underneath the counter, "if we are meant to challenge ourselves and.."

"I CAN'T CHALLENGE MYSELF YOU MORONIC DOG! THAT IS WHY YOU TIE ME UP TO A CHAIR MOST NIGHTS" He raises his arms and shows the marks "WHAT DO YOU THINK WE WERE DOING? PLAYING COPS AND F** ROBBERS?" panting, trembling he gets nearer the counter" DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THE EFFORT IT TAKES NOT TO GOUGE MY EYES OUT SO I DON'T HAVE TO SEE YOUR DAMN STUPID FACES EVERY..."

Tom blinks fast, his eyebrows furrowed, his body overcome by rage. He jumps on top of Hal, pinning him against the nearest table. "LETS 'AVE IT THEN MATE!"

The bell of the cafe door goes. "Well, this must be a neew record for ye boys" Alex chimed " Two and a half hours without touching each other, and they say ye don't have self-control"

Alex walks to the table where they are, dangerously angry but too shocked to move. She sits down and arches her brows.

Hal shoves Tom from him "we have a disagreement... about the cleaning..rota"

Tom still on edge growls something about bins "or summat".

"Oh, lovers' squabble. An' they say Romance is dead" Alex starts flicking the newspaper she has taken from the next table

"They? They who?" Hal sits dejected in front of Alex, while Tom, hands in pockets, leans on the table where the newspaper was, his mouth a thin line.

"Tsk, Hal, theeyy" and sways her hand in a circle in front of her.

"I ain't seeing anybody, Al"

"Oh come on, ye too?..They" and she signs inverted commas " it's common knowledge"

"It is not so common, I for instance was unaware" Hal responds sarcastically

"me neither.."

"That is because ye two are not common"

I haven't been common in a long time" Hal sniggers.

"s'pose we're special eh?"

"More special needs" Alex laughs hysterically banging her hand on the table.

Hal and Tom look at her blankly and then at each other. "What are you tryin' to say?" " Yes, Alex, what are you saying? Is this one of your 'misjudging the mood' moments?" "So close to me time of the month it ain't a good idea to PISS ME OFF, you know?" he looks with a mix of annoyance and exasperation at Hal, who is staring angrily at Alex.

"Jeesus, guys, YE don't get any jokes, do ye." They start protesting and arguing between themselves " Fellas! Get a grip! God! it's like living with two girls, really. One en PMS and ae drama queen..."

"WHAT!" Both of them lurch from their seats at the same time "WHAT! I can't bloody believe you Alex? AFTER ALL THAT'S HAPPENED!" " YES, MISS I-cant-cross-over-because-of-UNSPECIFIED- UNRESOLVED- ISSUES" Hal leans over her but Tom pushes him back "YEAH, YOU still hangin around, your body been found eh! WHEN are ya goin' eh?" ".. and not to mention, Ghosts and THEIR HUMONGOUS EGO " Alex gawks at them in turns while they keep screaming at her.

"Wow! Ye really know hoo to make somebody feel uncomfortable! Anyhoo, I haven't come back to hear ye screaming yer heads off at me."

"So tell us, what can we do for you, milady?, fall over, pull faces, a pantomime, would that entertain you, make you laugh? a joke A-JOKE. lets see: what is a vampire's, no, MY favourite drink? A bloody Mary... And favourite fruit? A neck-tarine! " Behind Hal, Tom suddenly starts laughing, softly. "What does a vampire fears the most? Tooth decay!" Tom guffaws and Hal turns around. "Sorry mate, that was funny. know any with werewolves?"

Alex waves her hand, "Hey, it is me again, yer friendly ghost. Tom, I came back to take Hal home? haff ye talked to him?..." Tom's face goes all red.

"Err, yeah it's almost time..." he shut his eyes" Err.. So all am sayin' is, I am worried mate and you are worried. can't hide it, But..hang on I 'ave the rest by the counta"

Hal shakes his head grinning. "That Alison is not a good influence" "Hum wha'?" "Nothing,carry on" "Ok, where was it? Yeah, But I put it to you, if we are meant to challenge ourselves" he looks up nervously" We should text each boundary.." Hal whispers 'no'.

"No?" Tom's nostrils flare,his free hand tugging at his apron's loose string

"It is not text, you mean test" Hals says calmly

"Ok, ok, we should test each boundary with pre-coctions, "Hal shakes his head again " no?" "precautions" corrects Hal

"ok pre-cautions Like like..to "

"bound me less tightly" "yeah or.. to leave you home with Alex tonight?" confidently he concludes" Cos we will not know if progress is made without texts, tests. Do y'agree" He folds his speech and expectantly raise his eyes to meet Hal's.

"So, I am not to get locked up in the cage in that empty warehouse we found ? as we said?" Tom gives Hal a guilty look

"Oh, I see. Alright I am for the motion of testing limits, first my patience,spending one night alone with Alex."

"Hey, the living canae see me but I am not invisible to ye" "Sorry Alex, that was rude. My apologies. We will spend a wonderful time, me fighting my condition, you watching my every move, a dream come true,..." "Watch it or I will tie ye to that chair of yers and feed ye haggis an' whiskey until ye puke" "Great" "Fine" "I -can-not- wait" "didn't wait to drink my blood" "Oh right" "Don't ye roll yer eyes at me" "the magic is already happening.."

Tom comes back from the kitchen with his rucksack "Ok I'm off, humm by the way I need to ask ya Alex: what the hell is PMS anyway?"

Alex gawks at them again " You guys are NOT for real"


	2. At home

She looks at him, sleeping in the sofa, with his book on top of him. "Don Quixote", never heard of that book before. She is not sure how long she is being watching him or when he fell asleep. Time seems different now, unreal, like a dream. Is he sleeping? He might just be avoiding talking to her. She is not sure of that either. She is not sure of anything anymore for that matter. Uncertainty about the future shouldn't be a problem once you are dead, unless you are the stranded ghost of a holidaymaker murdered after meeting a rather sweet guy working in a café, a guy who likes old fashioned stuff and museums and literature from the 16th century. When he was born. She shakes her head unhappy, tutting to herself. "Rotten luck you have, the one decent guy you find to have fun this bloody holidays, not an oaf like yer brothers, a tad awkward but nice and and... Rotten luck!"

"Here we are, Home at last !" Alex exclaimed earlier as she opened the door of Honolulu Heights, with Hal in tow. "Do ye wanna drink?" Hal glared at her "Yes, please if you were so kind as to get me a brunette, with pale skin and ..."

"Ok, ok, Jesus, no need to get yer knickers in a twist, just trying to be nice and civil" Hal chortles "That's a first...""Listen, I will lock ye up in yer room, or..." her eyes followed Hal's to the chair, still in the middle of the living room, the bloody straps still attached. "Yes, well..." Hal hesitated "Just joking". Without glancing back to Alex he went to the kitchen and heated up something Tom and he made yesterday. A hotpot. An hour later, he came out and sat down with his book.

Alex turned around in the sofa "Un-be-liev-able. What de ye clean the inside of the cupboards fer? why didn't ye leave it and come watch Antique Roadshow with me? It's almost finished now!"

"Oh, I got carried away" he said wit big satisfied smile " It helps me, it really does. Besides,nobody is paying much attention to the house chores" ."De ye think it is MY job to do them because a/am a girl b/am a ghost c/all the above?", "I haven't said it is anybody's job," She huffed "Never mind, I like to clean, lets leave it at that" "Yeah, lets"

Silence. Alex turned to the TV again. Hal started reading the '3 million- pages- monster', as she named it,and ignored her. After a while she switched off the TV and started watching him reading. He didn't even noticed. Concentrated so intensely. She is still looking at him wondering what is in his head. Her mind wanders to the day she met him, that beautiful smile. Why did she want to meet him again after a disaster of mammoth proportions. She laughs to herself. " Ha!, mammoth!" She sighs. The boys are not in the joking mood most of the time. Too many tragedies.

Then she remembers her own. That day the body, her body, was found. Hal almost choked up in his breakfast when he read the news in the paper. Tom offered to take her to the morgue. Hal was not up for it. He spent the day tied to his chair. Feeling really guilty Alex guessed. Seeing her dad so pale and her brothers trying to be grown-ups, no tears, no sobbing, not in front of the coroner, and worse in the caravan, falling apart, calling the rest of the family, arranging the funeral. Something went back to the house, not sure how, and screamed and screamed and swore, mostly at Hal, then at Tom, at the toaster, she felt the light bulbs blow up and didn't care. She calmed down, and yet no door appeared, she was still with Tom and Hal.

She frowns. "Why am I still a ghost? I thought ye said if my body was found and returned to my dad and my brothers my door will appear?" she asks quietly to the sleeping Hal. " I have been thinking and well I promised Tom I will NOT get ye all riled up but I cannae tell ye when he is here, and he is always here so I will tell ye now but ye have to keep the secret..." Alex considers the ifs and buts, pros and cons, more and more explanations about why she should or shouldn't tell Hal what has been bothering her since she didn't cross over when she was so sure she would. "To make a long story short..." she laughs "I now think that my unfinished business might be that, dont laugh now, I didn't get to have a date with ye, nice you I mean. The first Hal I met and took me to a MUSEUM fer a date. I liked that guy, soft considerate awkward, and it is a royal shame I didn't have my kiss by the wooly mammoth...what do ye think?" she mimicks Hal's voice "Hum well yess you are correct it was a shame and I am entirely to blame, and also I cannot fail to notice my dear Alex you are after all wearing that ehem, rather elegant dress you chose for our second date.." she giggles. Hal moves in his sleep,throwing the book to the floor. Alex catches it before it falls and calls softly "Hal?", no response. He is fast asleep. She covers him with a blanket and starts flipping the monster book. "It might be good" she tells herself. Not much else to do.

Hal turns in the sofa, looks at her pensively. When she looks he pretends he is still asleep.


	3. In Hal's head

I shout your name and it booms in the silent corridor. You are gone and with you my hopes that one day everything will be better are gone. For so long I have used my words as desperate gasps, my actions as flailing arms, my time wasted as I know for certain now there is no hope... Dissolved little by little from the seams that hold together my humanity, corroding what I, Oh Alex what we could have been. I am drowning. The void inside, the burning sensation at the back of my throat, present for five centuries, sticking its ugly angry face once more. Disappointment will be less hard to swallow if you can be saved.

You come back, lean to me, your eyes closed. I remember your taste in my mouth. No!,you are staring at me, your neck a bloody mess of veins and flesh. I feel myself drooling. No! I am here to save you. We are in the basement where you died, I am licking your blood from the floor. No! what is happening? Alex, ALEX! We are waltzing in the club dancefloor, you are laughing, gurgling through the gaping hole in her neck. I keep kissing it, sucking and laughing. I want to stop but we go round faster, and faster, your laugh bounces back from the walls, inside my head, ALEX ALEX let me go, let's walk in the park, let me buy you a cup of tea, let's go to a restaurant and have dinner, I will take you home, Alex, we will kiss good-night, just like in the movies, the ones Pearl loved so much. I can feel your blood in me. Stop me drinking your blood, ALEEEX!

Her face is inches from mine, looking concerned. "NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!" "it's ok Hal it's me Alex" "NO, No, no" I try to push her away,try to stand up and get far from her. There is this loud panting in the room, it takes me a while to realize it is me. I am bound to my bed, with Alex attempting to sooth me, placing wet cold towels in my breathing is less frantic now."Alex please would you be so kind as to put my domino tile in my hand? Please?" I am panting again. Stop. You can do this. You can control this. Think! Pretend, you are already pretending so many things, not feeling the hunger, not be boiling in my anger, not hating every person in the...

Ahh, I can feel it, its ivory texture against my palm. She can be so nice, and she looks so worried about me, after everything that happened. I must help her, without her knowing I overheard, of course. She wants a date with nice me, I will give her that. Hmm. What does she like?

"Alex?, what will you say if we have some drinks in the living room? We have a bar at home that we never use."

"Nice try, I am not letting you loose" her voice breaks just a bit, at the end. She bites her lip, wary, her arms wrapped around herself. Something's amiss. "My sincere apologies if I frightened you. My... dreams can be quite vivid".

She won't look at me in the eye or come back with one of her snide remarks. She is so quiet it is making me uneasy. "Look, we stay as we are, we can talk" Oh, that hostile look I know so well. I have definitely done something. Has she figured out I was not sleeping when she thought I was? "Go back to sleep" She barks. I winced. "Bi..." I swallow the word. My temper will get the better of me . Soon. I closed my eyes. No, I can't keep them closed. The nightmare still itches the insides of my eyelids. I will myself to focus on her moving instead. She is looking around without seeing. Distractedly she picks up Leo's picture,realises what she's done, puts it back quickly, glances at me. "Sorry, didn't mean to...First time I'm in yer room." That takes me by surprise. "First time? That can't be right. And all those times you two ... "No, I just help Tom take ye up the stairs. He comes here, not me" She sighs "It is really tidy; I thought it would be" she points at the photograph "Is that yer friend? The one ye talk so much aboot?" "Yes, that's Leo" She passes her hand over the domino set, I can feel my body tensing at once. "PLEASE" I shout, she flinches , "please don't touch that?" "Ooh, sorry,sorry" My wrists and ankles are hurting,straining at the metallic handcuffs that keep me in place. "Ye have lots of books" "yes, I like reading, it focus my mind" I lick my lips anxiously, "Not going to touch them don't worry"

I have an idea. "As I cannot do anything tied as I am, why don't you pick up a book and read me a passage?" Genius I thought to myself. "Mee? Reading to ye? Must be joking" I suck through my teeth. "What? Are ye serious?" "Alex," I try to keep my tone neutral, although I can hear the edge in my voice "I will be fine, you can take one, take a book, TAKE A BOOK," "But.."" ALEX!, for christsake I am not asking you for a bloody kidney just half an hour, not even, TEN-MIN-UTES, of your VALUABLE –TIME, YOU STU..". I stop myself and bang my head against the pillow a few times, frustrated. It is all I can do to prevent me hurling abuse at her. I keep calm, must keep calm. Must keep calm. Remember your resolution. Find information, what she likes (not reading), what she hates (me?) and work out the perfect date possible. " Oh-kay, but 10 min, alrite?" She check the books closer to her."The Kamarazov brothers," she tuts "The sorrows of Young Werther,buff, In Search of Lost Time, agg, Ulysses,oh my god; don't ye have anything...less heavy?" "I like books that demand a bit of effort " casually I add " what books do you like?" "Magazines!" She shrugs at my incredulous expression "JOKE! I am not such a numpty" she check the shelves,"Faust- in german?..Hum what do I like? Don't know, I like crime novels I suppose. Got the new Ian Rankin for this holiday" "I see" "Yeats Complete Poems.." "a favourite of mine" "u-huh," she screws her face " all are ... AULD!" "Timeless classics!" she nods absent-mindedly, "Never read ae classic.." stops, her face lights up "Aye, I have, back in school. Be back in a tick" No, noh-Oh-uh-Oh no,I am alone.

Must keep calm, must keep calm. Think of Alex, think of her. Where has she gone? More than anything I want her back. Or Tom. what's the time. One in the morning. where is she?Jesus! I relax my hand, I haven't realised but the domino tile was still there and digging into my palm, I welcome the pain, and just like that, she is back, with a book, and a grin "and what is that?" " Pride n Prejudice, I borrowed it from the library". I scowl at her "the library is not opened at this hour" "So? "YOU can't rentaghost everywhere!" "who says?" "theeyy" She laughs "Look who has his sense of humour back"

I do feel better, now she is back, I was worried that she wouldn' something happened to her. Absurd notion as she is already dead. But still. She is sitting on my bed, chattering away, must pay attention, must focus now, forget the rest, she is here, focus.

"... and anyhoo for English lit we watched the TV series, with Colin Firth, and I thought, 'I must get the book',soo good...Am I boring ye?" "not at all" "Aye so I said to my mates..."

I listened to her animated voice, talking, reading on and on. Ten minutes become an hour. We laughed,I told her how tricky those parties in the book really were."Oh don't believe you" "oh yes, you moved within your circle only, there were a whole set of social rules" "So what happened if ye liked a guy and that... " "Well" I start "you would tell your mother for example or any older lady of your acquaintance, and if they approved of him, an older gentleman, a relative of yours possibly will try to find out a common acquaintance that can introduce that 'guy' to your family and ,then ,you" she looks at me horrified.

"Cannae believe ye, and if ye were a guy, was it the same? No wonder ye suck at pulling!" "Hey" "well ye kind of do" I have to change the subject "A guy could ask the lady to dance at the ball, and I have you known I was very apt dancer" She looks at me quizically "Show me!"

We stand up and face eath other. I bow, she curtsies, we dance, we have fun. I teach her a scotch reel, she laughs trying to follow my steps. She stumbles, I grab her before she falls, we are holding each other, I look into her eyes,this is it, I can kiss her now, as I should have in our date, first date. I hesitate, she is still laughing, happily. She tilts her head, I lean towards her lips. She is no longer laughing. I am about to kiss her when she whispers: "You were screaming for my blood before in yer dreams"

As I gasp I can feel a howl coming to my throat, I can't stop it, "NNOOOOO...", she shush me "Shhhh, sorry, shut up, please shut up,shush" she grabs my arms, shakes me and then, and then something extraordinary- she kisses me


	4. In the end

"I'm back!" "In here Tom, I'm making ye breakfast," "WOW"

There is toast, sausages, eggs scrambled, poached, fried, "Ta-dah!" Tom stares speechless. "Wow, you've been busy ain't it?"

She stands in the middle of the kitchen, looking miserable. "Can't sleep, can't put the TV on in case 'ye know who' wakes up, can't get hammered being a ghost, believe me I tried, was fed up of reading and thinking and.. I thought I make myself useful! What do ye think?" Tom nods approvingly while sitting down, "Nice!" He notices Eve's baby monitor on the kitchen counter and stops in his tracks.

"I knoow, ye said ye were going te give away her things and I know ye said not te touch anything but I needed that to monitor our 'baby', ha" she chortles and shuts up when Tom doesn't join her in the joke. He is still looking sadly at the monitor. He goes and picks it up and places it next to him "S'alright, Al. I was just surprised, that's all. So..hmm" Tom clears his voice "he's sleeping, isn't he, that is great" "U-hum" "You didn't give him those pills again did ya?" "Nope"

He looks briefly at the monitor, and starts eating, speaking with his mouth full. "Ohh..I'm so hungry, and knackered! I was on edge and didn't stop all night, can't be sure but I think I stalked a deer or summat" "Did ye" "Yeah and I kind of killed it an'all" "Gross" "didn't mean to" "Oh-kay".He carries on stuffing his face, drinking juice and telling all the gory details. Alex carries more plates to the table, nodding absent-mindedly.

"So tell me what happened" She shakes her head "No-thing!" he crosses his arms, "you mix that Valium stuff in his dinner? 'cos if that keeps him sane, I'm ok with it. It is what ya said,if he is rested he can fight it and besides ya said he ain't as nasty 'cos he's sleepy an'that" "Gosh, Tom, normally ye are so quiet, stop talking ok? enough with the talking" "You're all weird, so what is it?" "We just talked, ok? about books, about when he was younger, silly stuff really" "And?" " Tom, give up" "Neva" "Please" "Tell me"

Her eyes start watering and wipes a tear from her cheek. She utters "I hurt him... on purpose" "Pufff, ok pull the other one" "I was horrible to him, get it?, I knew he would go mental, but I was kind of pissed off with him and a wee bit scared so I did it " Tom arches his brows, "What happened was, he was screaming because of a nightmare as usual and as I said I got scared so I rentaghosted him upstairs... Oh yes I did so deal with it" She adds when Tom is about to protest, "I shackled him to the bed, he kept repeating "she mimicks Hal" Alex give me blood" she shrugs," and well I told ye, he woke up, I needed to distract him, so we talked for a while of stuff" "And when he was distracted, ya told him"

Tom pushes his chair back, picks up the monitor and stands up. "Nice, Al, well done. I trust ya to keep him safe and you do that! Great" "I regretted it straight away, he was so devastated" Tom snorts. "I'm going upstairs to check on him" "He is fine now, believe me. I..." she hesitates "managed to calm him down" "How?" She shrugs again "No, no, this is important, if you want me to trust ya, tell me how Alex?"

She licks her lips and glances nervously around. "well...I tried the usual break-up stuff, that i was very sorry, that he never hurted me, I blame him for nothing , 'cos really he didn't kill me, and we can stay friends, ye know, being both dead.." "And he bought that?" Alex starts fidgeting, "looks this is very unconfortable, and what's more, it was a pri-va-te conversation" She takes a plate to the sink "I really shouldn't be discussing this with ye"

"Are ya telling me that the guy that four days ago told ya" Tom tried to imitate Hal's accent with mixed results"your coagulated blood tasted like the most exquisite wine, shame I didn't have it straight from the bottle "Alex turns her back to Tom and starts washing up furiously "that guy passed the chance to have a go at being the most annoying a***hole in Barry 'cos... 'cos... you were sorry?" "No, not sorry. VERY sorry" "Come off it, ya must have done summat else..." Tom opens his eyes wide " Oh no, I know what" Alex starts panicking. "Tom yer making a mountain out of nothing"

"You actually knocking him out!, that's it ain't it? he's not sleeping, he is in coma" Alex gawks at him in disbelief. "Ye think I am the kind of person that would drugged or KO auld vulnerable vampires, is that what ye think of me? I am a bully? NO, I didn't hit him or spike his coffee. I...I..kk" she hesitates "spit it out you what" " I HUGGED HIM"

Tom whistles, and goes back to his chair. "I didn't expect that" "I gave him a hug" "stop saying it out loud, it is creepy" "Our first k..hug if ye don't count when he was taking my body down from the hook in that horrid basement." Tom asks "didn't he freaked out?" "a wee bit but oddly he calmed down too" "The shock I s'posse" "And then I read to him till he fell asleep again" She highfives Tom.

She left out she did what she used to do with her brothers, when they have nightmares, after their mother was gone: that she stroked his hair while saying soothing meaningless words, that she cradled him in his bed until he fell asleep holding her hand, that his head rested in her shoulder not even an hour ago. Tom couldn't know that and she desperately hoped Hal thought it was a dream too. That was her line of defense. A dream that never happened.

"Hey," she comes back to reality"can I have more coffee" "Sure"

She pours some for him "Thank you Al" "Always a pleasure... " Tom continues after Alex "...Never a chore.."

They look at each other in wonder "We spend far too much time with him" "Aye we do"


End file.
